The perfect THRASH-GROOVE metal album; a piece of art from start to finish, Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power is quite possibly one of THE most important albums in the 90’s chapter of The Book of Metal and is certainly a unanimous Metal Nerdery favorite. There will never be another band with as much power and precision as Pantera, and there will never be another album as powerfully precise as Vulgar Display of Power. JOIN US as we dive into the tracks, the production, and the power that was vulgarly displayed in such an incredibly metal way on one of the most incredibly important metal albums of all time.
Philip Anselmo – vocals
Dimebag Darrell – guitar
Rex Brown – bass
Vinnie Paul – drums
Released: February 25, 1992
Recorded: 1991
Studio: Pantego Sound Studio in Pantego, Texas, U.S.
Length: 52:48
Label: Atco
Producer: Terry Date
Terry Date – engineering, mixing, production
Vinnie Paul – engineering, mixing, production
Howie Weinberg – mastering
Doug Sax – vinyl mastering
Brad Guice – photography
Joe Giron – photography
Bob Defrin – artwork
Larry Freemantle – design
Singles from Vulgar Display of Power
"Mouth for War" Released: February 1992
"This Love" Released: 1992
"Hollow" Released: 1992
"Walk" Released: 1993
Pantera had already written and demoed "A New Level", "Regular People (Conceit)" and "No Good (Attack the Radical)".
The rest of the tracks were written in studio.
They were invited to open for AD/DC and Metallica at the Monsters of Rock concert in Moscow on 9/28/1991. They returned to studio to finish the record and it was then Mastered at Masterdisk in NY. Dime and Rex had name changes at this time as Dime went from Diamond Darrell to Dimebag Darrell and Rex from Rexx Rocker to Rex Brown.
The Title was taken from a line in the movie The Exorcist.
The band wanted something Vulgar for the cover “like a dude getting punched” The 1st version showed a boxer with a glove and the band wasn’t having it.. The 2nd version was with a bare fist and has the legend of someone off the street being paid $10 a punch and being punch some 31 times! However, Brad Guice stated that the man, who was named Sean Cross, was never actually hit. I like the Legend.
The band also released music videos for "Mouth for War", "This Love" and "Walk", they were included on Vulgar Video and 3 Vulgar Videos from Hell.
The videos were a regular play on MTVs Headbangers Ball and MTV used their songs for the bumpers and intros. “Walk” can also be heard on Madden NFL games and if you have even been to a sports game – “Walk” gets played quite often!
Side Note:
The song “Piss” was recorded during the sessions for the album but never featured on the original album. Its main riff was used in the song "Use My Third Arm" on Far Beyond Driven. "Piss" was released on April 12, 2012.
The tour for the album started with Skid Row and Soundgarden in the US. They later toured with MegaDave in Europe. And returning home with White Zombie in ’92 – which we all saw here in the ATL – our 1st introduction to White Zombie. Killer show!!
Track Listing
"Mouth for War" 3:57
2. "A New Level" 3:57
3. "Walk" 5:14
4. "Fucking Hostile" 2:48
5. "This Love" 6:32
6. "Rise" 4:36
7. "No Good (Attack the Radical)" 4:49
8. "Live in a Hole" 5:00
9. "Regular People (Conceit)" 5:27
10. "By Demons Be Driven" 4:40
11. "Hollow" 5:48
Total length: 52:48
CERTIFICATOINS:
U.S. / 2x PLATINUM
U.K. / GOLD
CANADA / GOLD
AUSTRIA / PLATINUM
#1 on Chad Bowar of About.com list of the "Best Heavy Metal Albums of 1992"
#2 "Best Heavy Metal Albums Of The 1990s"
#4 on Guitar World magazine's list of "The Top 10 Guitar Albums of 1992".
#1 on Loudwire's "Top 11 Metal Albums of the 1990s" and their "Top 10 Albums of 1992"
#4 on Loudwire’s list of the "10 Best Pantera songs", they placed "This Love" in seventh, "Mouth for War" in fifth, "Fucking Hostile" in third and "Walk" in first.
#7 Loudwire’s "10 Catchiest Metal Songs" the song "Walk".
#11 on IGNs most influential heavy metal album ever on their list of the "Top 25 Metal Albums".
#10 on the Rolling Stone list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.
00.00: Intro/ (Yes, we agree) Metal Nerdery Album Dive: Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power and the tour lead up to the album’s release/Master of Puppets of the 90’s
05.37: 02/25/1992: a New Level of Awesomeness!!!/Vinnie Paul’s drum production and the interplay of Vinnie and Dime/ (It’s moving…)/Accentuate
10.56: Singles from Vulgar Display of Power/Pantera’s Roadhouse Blues
13.40: 09/28/1991: GO WATCH PANTERA LIVE IN MOSCOW!! (Domination and Primal Concrete Sledge)/Making a quantum leap in almost every way
16.02: Origin of the album title and the punch in the face/The Pantera Home Videos
20.02: Leading up to the release of Vulgar and the video for Mouth For War/the proliferation of Walk and Dime’s message of Metal/Dime just threw something out in 12/8 time (huh!?)/Foreshadowing…/More foreshadowing…
25.12: Piss (04/12/2012) and “What’s in a Riff Casserole?”/Who DID Pantera NOT get along and/or tour with!?/Pantera with White Zombie opening and the treatment of opening bands
32.32: Double Platinum! (Also Platinum in Austria!)/ Not enough anesthesia…/Best Heavy Metal album of 1992 (and a multitude of other listicles)
36.09: Mouth for War and Pantera’s epical album openers! /The first “True” Pantera album of the Pantera Era
39.45: A New Level/The Nuances between riffs
42.42: Walk (in 12/8): Dime is a genius: easily The Rifflord of The 90’s/ (future Metal Nerdery foreshadowing)
46.18: 1, 2, 3, 4… (FUCKING HOSTILE!!!!)/There’s something to a very clearly articulated message (Thank you for that, Phil!)
49.12: This Love (those riffs…)/Pantera’s epicus/the 2nd side of VDoP (deeper cuts…do you hear that?)/tour memories
55.50: Cue up the Celtic Frost, get a refill and RISE!!/A Pantera show: it’s organic; it moves as one!!/Metal Nerdery gives many gracious thanks to Pantera for coming to Atlanta so many times back in the 90’s!!!!/and we also give thanks and commendments to Dorothy/The guys listen to RISE while Matt was “Celtic Frosting”
59.53: No Good Attack the Radical (Pantera Prerequisite #1)/the magic of Dime/Milley’s new pasta recipe for the fall
1.03.03: Live in a Hole, Dime and The Cringe Chord (aka Stinky)
1.05.27: Regular People (Conceit) and Rex’s Big Beefy Bassy Bottom end/Reinventing the Steel Tour Memories
1.08.58: Adam’s exception to the 10 song rule/By Demons Be Driven and The Mule Riff/Dime: Riff Lord AND Riff Virtuoso
1.11.21: Hollow and an Extreme Pantera-ized version of Light and Shade/Summon the Thimble Master!
1.17.30: Pantera’s use of dynamics to build crushing riffs/Metal Nerdery Salutes Pantera (More Metal Nerdery Foreshadowing…a Pantera Megasode!!)/CONTINUE TO SPREAD THE WORDERY ABOUT THE METAL NERDERY!!!/(The Metal Nerdery Loincloths are still in the design phase; go to www.metalnerdery.com/merch for more modern alternatives to loincloths.)